Government\u2019s\u00a0pension\u00a0reforms\u00a0helping to\u00a0attract major investment deals with\u00a03 major pension funds supporting\u00a0an initial fundraise of\u00a0\u00a3200 million\u00a0to invest in\u00a0the\u00a0UK\u2019s most innovative companies\u00a0across\u00a0science and\u00a0technology firms.\u00a0
\n Changes will boost saver returns and drive investment into Britain\u2019s fast growing business as part of the government\u2019s modern Industrial Strategy.<\/p>\n
Britain\u2019s biggest investors are putting their money behind the country\u2019s next generation of success stories \u2013 delivering good returns for savers and driving investment into fast-growing UK\u00a0firms that will create good jobs, boost\u00a0wages\u00a0and grow the economy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Three major pension funds \u2013 Aegon UK, NatWest Cushon and M&G – are in the final stage of approval for contributing to an initial \u00a3200 million of investment to support cutting edge British businesses, following the Chancellor\u2019s announcement of a new vehicle for pension investment in venture capital last year – the British Growth Partnership Fund.<\/p>\n
The deal was revealed in a meeting on Thursday morning between Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, the Minister for Pensions Torsten Bell\u00a0and senior leaders\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0pension funds involved.<\/p>\n
It builds on UK strengths in key growth areas identified in our industrial strategy such as\u00a0clean energy,\u00a0fintech\u00a0and\u00a0life-changing medical technology\u00a0\u2013\u00a0helping\u00a0businesses in these sectors to\u00a0scale up, stay\u00a0British\u00a0and create skilled jobs across the country.<\/p>\n
To go further in driving more institutional investment into venture capital opportunities, the British Business Bank\u00a0has also\u00a0announced its intention to launch its\u00a0VentureLink \u00a0initiative. This will help institutional investors better understand the venture capital market, with the Bank providing additional information about its commitments to crowd in more investment and boost the economy.<\/p>\n
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
My number one priority is economic growth, and by unlocking\u00a0investment\u00a0in\u00a0Britain\u2019s most exciting sectors \u2013 from science and technology to clean energy \u2013\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0backing the businesses that will power our future, deliver\u00a0well paid\u00a0jobs,\u00a0and put more money in people\u2019s pockets.<\/p>\n
Minister for Pensions Torsten Bell said:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Britain is becoming a nation of savers, with many more of us now saving into a pension.\u00a0Today\u2019s announcement is about\u00a0connecting those pensions with\u00a0exciting businesses.<\/p>\n
These commitments from Aegon UK, NatWest Cushon, and\u00a0M&G\u00a0show that the UK\u2019s start up ecosystem offers a wealth of opportunity for institutional investors.<\/p>\n
Louis Taylor, CEO, British Business Bank, said:<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s announcement brings us one step closer to mobilising institutional capital at scale into the UK\u2019s fastest growing companies, both diversifying pension portfolios and providing much needed scale up funding.<\/p>\n
Alex Seddon, Head of Impact and Private Equity, M&G Investments, said:<\/p>\n
We\u2019re\u00a0delighted to be partnering on this important UK growth initiative. Our commitment will build on the \u00a3100 billion we already invest in the UK economy and power up the next generation of high growth UK companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Britain\u2019s businesses need patient capital to truly scale. By attracting more investment, the British Business Bank is taking a major step to drive dynamic growth and strengthen the UK\u2019s position as a leading hub for innovation.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0initial\u00a0\u00a3200 million\u00a0is the first step towards raising hundreds of millions of pounds of further institutional capital through the British Growth Partnership.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This\u00a0is part of a wider drive\u00a0to deliver better returns for pension savers and back British growth, as the government doubles the number of\u00a0pension\u00a0megafunds\u00a0to create more effective\u00a0schemes capable of investing at scale in\u00a0fast-growing businesses and infrastructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
17 of the UK\u2019s largest workplace pension providers have\u00a0already committed to investing at least 5 percent of their default funds in the UK productive assets such as infrastructure, which is expected to unlock over \u00a350 billion for the UK economy by the end of the decade alongside\u00a0megafund\u00a0reforms.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These changes will give\u00a0pension funds a trusted route into the best UK opportunities removing more barriers to institutional investment in growing businesses following the launch of the Sterling 20 coalition of funds last month.<\/p>\n
Through the British Growth Partnership Fund and other initiatives, the British Business Bank is\u00a0expected to raise at least \u00a32 billion in further investment\u00a0from pension funds\u00a0over the next five years, supporting the growth of hundreds of companies.<\/p>\n
More information<\/p>\n
The new British Growth Partnership Fund\u00a0will be\u00a0supported\u00a0by Aegon UK, NatWest Cushon and M&G,\u00a0who are in the final stages of approvals,\u00a0terms\u00a0and structuring. It\u00a0will invest in\u00a0cutting-edge\u00a0British businesses \u2013 building on UK strengths in areas such as clean energy, advanced\u00a0manufacturing\u00a0and life-changing medical technology \u2013 helping them scale up, stay\u00a0British\u00a0and create skilled jobs across the country.<\/p>\n
Aegon UK said<\/p>\n
We are proud to be partnering with the British Business Bank on the launch of the British Growth Partnership. This initiative aligns with our commitment to supporting the UK\u2019s most innovative and high-growth companies, while delivering long-term value for our customers.<\/p>\n
Natwest\u00a0Cushon said\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a signatory to both the Mansion House Compact and the Accord,\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0committed to directing investment into innovative, high-growth UK businesses and impact led sectors to deliver better outcomes for our pension savers whilst also supporting the UK\u2019s growth ambitions.\u00a0The British Growth Partnership is a vital step forward to unlocking these investment opportunities. The investment due diligence is complete, and we are excited to move forward subject to Trustee approval.<\/p>\n
Zoe Alexander, Executive Director of Policy and Advocacy at Pensions UK, said:<\/p>\n
We are delighted to see pension funds and the British Business Bank come together to drive new investment in the UK economy.<\/p>\n
The Mansion House Accord committed 17 pension funds \u2013 managing the majority of DC workplace pension savings \u2013 to provide more capital to the UK economy, where that is consistent with member interests. At the same time, it committed the Government to take action to ensure there is a strong pipeline of investable opportunities for pension schemes. This initiative builds on the momentum created by the Accord.\u00a0Pensions UK is working with the British Business Bank to enable it to forge closer links with schemes, with a view to opening up more opportunities like this in future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Government\u2019s\u00a0pension\u00a0reforms\u00a0helping to\u00a0attract major investment deals with\u00a03 major pension funds supporting\u00a0an initial fundraise of\u00a0\u00a3200 million\u00a0to invest in\u00a0the\u00a0UK\u2019s most innovative…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[138,246,111,139,69,244,245],"class_list":{"0":"post-146222","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-personal-finance","14":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}